This invention relates to a fluid metering device and in particular to a chambered rotary metering device for use with both gases and liquids.
Devices which meter proportional quantities of fluids are in common usage. A typical example is that of a carburetor of an internal combustion engine which meters proportionate amounts of vaporized fuel, such as gasoline, and air. There are many drawbacks to such systems with one being that, if one of the fluids to be metered is liquid and the other is gaseous, the ratio of liquid to gas can vary widely because the density of the gas varies proportionally with the temperature of the gas whereas the density of the liquid is substantially constant. A problem also occurs when the liquid is vaporized and then mixed with a gas such as in the carburetor of an internal combusion engine. Generally the temperature, and therefore density, of the vaporized fuel is different than that of the air entering the carburetor. Because of this, engines using such mixtures are inherently inefficient because the optimum air to fuel mixture ratio is only achieved when the air entering the carburetors is at a certain temperature, which temperature is typically only present for a certain ambient temperature. At all other ambient temperatures the air to fuel ratio will be non-optimum, resulting in inefficiency in performance.
A further problem encountered when utilizing a fuel metering device such as a carburetor is that when using some fuels there is a possibility of flashback occuring because of the inherent continuous supply of fuel to the carburetor. This is particularly problematic when using hydrogen as a fuel source for the internal combustion engine.